Deep Thoughts with Leslie Moon

I have enjoyed reading memories of Christmases gone by on fellow bloggers sites and tried to think of a fantastic memory that I could write about. Keeping up with the Joneses? Or the Barbs, Als or Chrises? Maybe. Nonetheless, I couldn't think of anything that would make a worthy post. Sure, I have good memories like when my brother and I got bikes, when dad would take us out back to chop down a cedar tree or the year my brother and I peeked and then meticulously retaped all the packages.  We always had wonderful Christmases but I just don't look back and think, wow, that year was a game changer!  So, instead, I have decided to share my thoughts over the last 24 hours. You're welcome. 

1. My family is weird, crazy and far from perfect but we love each other and we make it work!

2. Everyone needs an Aunt Betty. See, Aunt Betty is a crafting genius and has coined "craft time" as a family tradition. Yesterday, the kids (and some of the adults!) made these:

Excuse the crappy iphoneography, but they are key creatures! 

3. Great Scott, I need to go on a diet.

4. I'm so glad our family does Mexican food instead of the traditional dinner.  See I told you we are weird!

5. Oh crap, now I have to take the tree down and put it away.

6. I don't ever want to not shop for gifts for my kids again!  I had no idea how much I would miss watching them open their gifts.

7. In all of our blessings, abundance of food and warmth of our homes, I thought of those who didn't have all those things, the soldiers far from their families and those who have never considered the significance of Christmas and I felt sad. 

8. In addition to #7, I felt an extreme level of thankfulness wash over me. 

9. I missed my dad. I haven't seen him in over 11 years.  He lives all the way across the country. 

10. Wow, it came and went so quickly! 

Here they are with their "stockings" and a gift from Nana. 

Hope you all had a very Merry and blessed Christmas and enjoyed this installment of "Deep Thoughts."

Bah Humbug

For whatever reason, this holiday season (unintentional rhyme; poet and didn't know it? oh never mind.) has seemed more rushed than ever.  Guess how many Christmas gifts hubs and I have purchased???

Nope, the answer isn't zero this time; its two! We bought the boy child some PJ pants and the girl child a PJ set.  They are going to be stoked; it's what every kids longs to see under the Christmas tree.  Hey, at least it's not socks and underwear!  We took the kids to Disney World, which as it turns out, isn't the happiest place on earth at all times but I will post on that later. The trip was our big family Christmas gift and the kids agreed that they would be fine with just getting stocking stuffers from us.  So, since I'm not shopping for my kids, I haven't really been able to get into the buying spirit.  What's worse is, the weatherman is predicting our next winter storm to arrive on December 21 or 22.  Fabulous.  This can only mean one thing: the Christmas present shopping extravaganza marathon must take place THIS WEEKEND!  With the impending ice storm of doom being forecasted, I'm just going to go ahead and assume every other Tom, Dick and Harry will also be making a mad Christmas gift buying dash this weekend too. 

parade.com

 

Again, fabulous. On the bright side, we did decide to draw names for hub's side of the family which means I only have to buy one adult gift since my family doesn't really exchange adult gifts.  Score!  All this bah humbug attitude against buying gifts doesn't mean I'm not excited about Christmas.  It is my favorite holiday.  I'm just sour over the commercialism of it all (Halloween costumes and Christmas trees on the same aisle??), or maybe its the hundreds of spam emails clogging up my inbox or the fact that I can't convince my husband to hang lights up on the house.  Okay, enough negativity!  Here's the things I LOVE about Christmas (yeah, yeah, I know...another list!):

 

1.  Celebrating the birth of Jesus - the only reason for the season.  And, the freedom to do so.

2.  Family

3.  Food!

4.  Christmas vacation - the movie and the time the kids get off school!

5.  Christmas music and programs

6.  The way people come together to help one another - Angel Tree, food baskets, etc

7.  Silver Dollar City.  Some people call this the Disney World of the Midwest.  They are lying BUT at Christmas time, its beautiful.  Lights everywhere, Christmas plays, a giant Christmas tree (that rivals times square) with lights set to the tune of all the best Christmas carols and the light parade.  It's a tradition of ours to go every year at this time.  It helps that we get free tickets from our family that work there.

8.  Hot chocolate, cider and baking

9.  Christmas candy

10. Watching the faces of the children in our family light up when opening their gifts.  

 

See, I'm not a complete Grinch!!  Here's to wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!   



Table What!?!

Every year hubs and I begin our Christmas shopping on Black Friday.  We normally get 75% of our gifts bought in one day! So I did my normal combing through the ads and I found this interesting table item....

Table panties?? This brings a whole new meaning to tableware! I have heard of table salt, table runners and table center pieces but table panties are a new discovery for me! These probably won't make my list this year, sadly, but they are sure to make someone a great gift!